From Here to Eternity
by Koblenz
Summary: He promised to save them, once upon a time. To right all the wrongs of the past no matter the sacrifice, to avenge fallen comrades and fight back against evil without fear. Naïve notions that'd been replaced eons ago by indomitable rage, cold as the blackest abyss.


That the screaming threatened to tear the world asunder no longer mattered, it was—

 _Flawless emeralds, choked with disbelief and agony, which regarded him with adoration and acceptance as they crumbled to glowing embers. Verdant pools that conveyed everything and nothing in their entirety before being lost to the gusting winds._

—his own pitiful gurgling that anchored him to reality. The sound of wet, shuddering wheezes that cemented the encroaching numbness within him down to the very core. And in that same moment of clarity, he found himself staring into—

 _Silver orbs, stricken with unshed tears and immeasurable conviction, that would burden the_ _darkest of horrific nights with the searing light of day. An innocent soul with a significance beyond anything he'd ever imagine, had the dice of fate rolled another way._

—the gaping maw of oblivion. Appearing before her as an interloper; wreathed in broken armour, awash with blood and gore, rubble and metal and ash crunching loudly underneath the heels of his worn leather boots. The cracked optics of his battered helm glowed dimly in the harsh light of the shattered moon, two bloody orbs of sporadically flickering crimson that shown with nothing but malevolent intent as he marched towards the epicenter of chaos, towards—

 _Irises of the purest roiling gold_ _, trailing his every movement with an unerring intensity ‒ smouldering eyes, aglow with unfathomable power and as of yet directionless hatred. A burning, calculative gaze that_ _radiated unrivaled brutality and destruction, without even a modicum of mercy. She was the stronger, she was the faster, the more intelligent and experienced between them. More a force of nature than a human being now, promising certain death with zero hesitation._

—the harshest conceivable inevitability. A conclusion shrugged off with the barest hint of acknowledgement, consumed wholly by the frigid black rage keeping him rooted to whatever constituted for sanity in his shattered psyche. To her, he was weak and powerless, a fool worth less than—

 _Sparkling sapphires, drinking in the horrific sight of suffering and despair, which felt..._

—absolutely nothing.

Until now, as two fingers deliberately snaked twin triggers, the hulking weapon cradled in his arms swaying in tandem with every agonizingly slow footstep as twin barrels, wrought from the blackest onyx, trailed her shimmering form with similarly unerring precision.

Bracing for the recoil was an effort of futility, that he knew. Only a specific Semblance could stop such force from outright killing him, from instantly disintegrating muscle and bone from the explosive recoil he'd experienced time and time again. Yet no amount of Aura could halt a slug so horrendously large, no living thing capable of surviving even a grazing shot from the veritable cannon in his arms.

All he could do was stare, waiting and willing to ignite the night with the cacophony of his wrath. A twitch of his fingers – that was all that was necessary, all that would ever _be_ necessary, and her narrowing eyes understood everything.

If victory rested firmly within her vile clutches, then he would pilfer it from her broken corpse. If death was inevitable, then his final moments would be spent attempting to tear her limb from bloody limb.

Nothing would stop him from trying, nothing _could_ stop him from succeeding.

Not now. Not anymore.

Not the Fall Maiden, not the binds of causality nor the chains of fate. Not here, with the blood of so many staining his hands and soul. Not now, on the cusp of absolution he no longer deserved. Not when the culmination of his hate and torment drove him towards whatever means, whatever ends, no matter the sacrifices he might endure.

All for this chance to end the eternal nightmare; to glimpse tomorrow's elusive dawn, unfettered by agony and endless insanity.

"Whenever will this farce en—"

He couldn't answer her. She would die screaming, or he would die drowning in blood. It didn't matter, and hadn't for longer than he could possibly remember.

All he knew was that her horrific voice needed to be silenced.

Jaune Arc blinked, and let twin hammers fall.

* * *

AN: Re-uploaded based on memory because I lost the original document. Initial version was sub-par and I hope this one does satisfy.


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